Best Free PIM

Everybody seems to have their own concept of what a PIM is. It may help to define the scope of"Best Free PIM"at the outset to avoid confusion. I will stay within that scope when selecting products to include here.

Scope: PIMs reviewed here will include several or all of the following functions: Diary | notebook | appointments | events | tasks | address book | contact information | itinerary | These products have names like personal organizer, day planner, personal planner. Their purpose is to help you get things done. PIMs that fall outside that scope will not be included.

See other sorts of PIMs: If what you are looking for isn't here in this "Best Free PIM" category, something in one of the Related PIM Categories below may fit your needs.

PIMs for tablets and smartphones are displacing PIMs for PCs. Web-apps are also replacing conventional PIM programs for PCs. There are a few good PC PIMS left though.

Pimero (Free Edition) is a relatively new entry in the full-featured, free PIMs category. It is a modestly crippled version of an actively-maintained commercial application. Pimero offers a full range of PIM functions: appointments, events, reminders, tasks, contacts, email -- even a feed reader, and chat. It has an attractive, well-organized user interface.

My brief testing indicates that Pimero is an efficient program to use. Other reviewers report that it is an outstanding Outlook alternative. It will import all your messages, but not your folders and folder-structure. You'd need to rebuild that yourself. The commercial version offers very nice data export, but there is no way to export your data from the free version. You cannot create repeating tasks with the free version either, if that's important to you. [Comment on Pimero | Free Edition]

EssentialPIM is another full-featured PIM based on a commercial product. It also does many of the same things as Outlook, including importing data. You can import CSV or vCard contacts as well. The integral email client can handle POP3/SMTP or IMAP4. A portable version of EssentialPIM is available.

There is no way to schedule repeating To-Do entries with free Essential PIM, but by creating all day repeating events you can effectively create a repeating tasks. They show up at the top of the calendar day grid. [EssentialPIM compared with Outlook]

The best thing in my view is that WinPIM has one of the essential functions I look for in a free PIM -- the provision to set repeating tasks. It also provides sub-tasks as well as top-level tasks.

WinPim is a complete, attractive program. It is intuitive and well-organized. It provides the options to attach notes, photos, files and other documents to almost every function. A portable version can be derived from the installed program.

The download links are on the home page. Look for the download link Download All Editions in One File. That file installs a special version of the program that opens the first time with a choice of versions. Select the free version. There are many more options for the paid versions.

Related Products and Information

PIM Xtremewould be a good choice if you want to tinker with the program interface, and the way that tasks, events, and contacts are organized and interconnected. It also has a calendar, notes, and a "Today Panel" that gives you a nice overview. PIM Xtreme has a build-it-yourself user interface. Tasks, events, contacts, notes, etc., have their own window pane, and you size and arrange them to fit your needs.

Chaos Free Update: This is a fine product... It does not fit the scope of this product category though. The paid version, Time and Chaos would fit (it adds projects to the mix), and I have used it for some time in the distant past. [comparison]

What I want in a PIM: The option to schedule repeating tasks -- strangely missing from many PIMs -- is a key function for me. Sync between PCs and mobile devices is also important. If I was still in the work force, I'd want one product that provides contacts, tasks, events, and reminders. I no longer need that tight coupling, so I use Evernote (notes) and ToDoList (task manager). I use the incomparable Tresorit (encrypted cloud storage) to sync ToDoList.

Related Web-app PIMs

InfiTrac (wasCloudPIM) is a relatively new online PIM with Web, iOS and Android apps. It also provides a social (sharing) dimension (which you can use or not). InfiTrac has become a polished Web-app. From the web site:

"InfiTrac is a complete personal information manager which lets you safely manage your agenda, contacts, calendar, lists, notes, ideas, chores, 'to-do' items, passwords, and much more. It is available on the web and as a phone/tablet app..."

You cannot export your data from the free edition, and sync and backup disabled. Provides recurring appointments, but not repeating tasks. Imports messages from Outlook, but not the folder structure, which you need to re-create. Cannot export data.

WinPIM

1

Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer

Full featured, attractive, intuitive and well organized. Has repeating to-dos, and allows sub-tasks. Provides the options to attach notes, photos, files and other documents to almost every function. A portable version can be derived from the installed program.

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Comments

WHAT technical support are you referring to? EPIM merely offers a forum, as many companies do these days, as their way of saying, "We could not care less about our customers and their complaints, but perhaps someone on our forum does, so feel free to post here..."

In fact, after a few weeks or months after posting, a guy named Max usually responds with "Your observations have been noted," but, months later, when the new (minor) release comes out, the same bug persists, so you know that your observation was relatively insignificant to them.

It is as if all of their customers were merely testing a beta version of their program, all expected to report in their errors, little by little, so that the programmers could come up with a stable release someday.

In fact, even if you do make a positive observation, to the point that they make an improvement to the program, when your one-year license expires, you are not allowed to download the improved version, if it was in the premium version. Consequently, there are no rewards for your positive contributions.

[References to commercial features removed as per site rules]

The Contacts List has no means for search-and-replace, or for inserting text into multiple contact fields at once. Consequently, if the area code changes for a certain city, and I want to modify 125 contacts accordingingly, I must do so manually. If I just want to insert a "001" dialing code to the beginning of each cell-phone number, I must do it manually--no "find/replace/insert".

Instead of posting to the EPIM forum, where all the flaws are out of the public view, I will start posting here, so that others can know what they are getting.

My first exposure to EPIM was her on this forum, so I am happy to report my negative findings here, to prevent other people from making the same mistakes.

can't recomment Agenda At Once - it downloads software while installing, it then offers PUPs - wajam, wisemana, system healer, goodgame empire - though you can decline, and finally connects to http://softwareinstalldone.com/thankyoupage7.php with offers for driver check. Didn't trip antivirus/trojan sw but advise to avoid.

I'm looking for a PIM software that notices a free time space in my schedule and suggests a task that can be completed or worked on in that period of time, based on the tasks and projects I have entered. It will also allow me to assign tasks that need to be done before other tasks.
Any ideas, please.

Thank you very much for the report Texas: I have used VirusTotal to scan the WinPim file at the source and multiple scanners report Trojan-like behavior [results]. I will post a notice here on this webpage.

I am a little frustrated that Agenda At Once is always Scheduled for Evaluation but it never happens. I have used it for years. YES it does have repeating reminders. I do not offer to evaluate as I suffer Bipolar, some days it hard enough to motivate to do anything let alone do a review. However click the link under Scheduled for Evaluation and see for your self how good it is. To my mind is is better than the top recommendations. It is not a cut down version of a paid version, it is the full version. Perhaps some one would be kind enough to give it a run for its money and do a full review. Thanks Guys.

Thanks for the recommendation Andy. Sometimes I need a little motivation myself to take another look at a product that didn't look ready or promising at first glance. Time for me to take another look and include it in this product category.

Regarding Pimero Free Edition
Sync and backup not functional (need to pay to play). If yo have this software running on more than one device it will be a big problem so, keep that in mind. Manually coping data folders will not work and then again, Why would you!... Pimero is inherently slow fetching emails from multiple accounts and forget multi-tasking while that is going on in the background. As a replacement for MS Outlook this is a poor candidate in my opinion and I am no MS Outlook fan.
Now the post mentions upcoming reviews on Chaos Free and Agenda at Once. I have used them both and they are great simple to use PIM's. Chaos Free should definitely be top choice for anyone looking for simple to use scheduling, tasks and contact management.
I have used Chaos Free for over a year now on my desktop and laptop with no hitch or hick-ups.
Looking forward to your insightful review on this product.

Be very careful of losing your data with Essential PIM.I settled upon this software some years back as after extensive research and trialling it seemed the best overall option. I mainly used it for the calendar.

Just recently 4 months worth of data entries for the calendar, including for next year, suddenly disappeared and not one of the backup files would restore the data.

On contacting their technical support with specifics about the problem, including screenprints, I was amazed to find a lethargic, superior and non-helpful approach. I was informed that "Data can't just disappear" and they kept telling me to try importing from different backup files which I had already told them I had tried to no avail.

After exchanging half a dozen emails and getting increasingly frustrated with the blasé approach I was told: "Such problems as yours may appear either because of incorrect file or some synchronization problems...". Oh, so that's alright then?

I have no trust in the product any more - a fundamental necessity I think you will agree - and the technical support stinks so am back to looking for alternatives which is why I'm here again...

I installed Pimero. It looked good, till I tried to import my emails from Outlook. It will import all your messages but NOT the folders and folder structure! So if, like me, you have many folders and sub-folders you have to manually recreate them in Pimero, then manually select each folder or sub-folder for import. Rinse and repeat ad tedium till you're done.
I didn't have the half a day plus this would take so removed this time wasting program!

I have been using Pimero Free Edition for about a year now. It's a great PIM and pretty good email client. Very intuitive to use, and with most of the functionality anyone would need. If you haven't tried it yet, you're missing out.

Since this is the free version and I've been using it for personal use, I can't comment on the the paid versions or how they stack up in the business environment.

I tried most of these tools. Comparatively,MemPad is an excellent one. Free; Portable;Lower RAM usage even than Winpad;Structured index,good for simple GTD and diary.Here is the link for the offical description and download. www.horstmuc.de/wmem.htm